


spiteful

by ConvenientAlias



Series: Tumblr Ficlets [6]
Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: Back in the day, Carlotta was Erik's pet ingenue.





	spiteful

Carlotta knew what it was like to be Christine because she had been Christine once, in a way. She was once the little ingénue who caught Erik’s attention. He didn’t brainwash her quite as hard (she never thought he was a ghost or an angel, certainly never called him her dead relative) but he did use her, and she let him. She let him touch her and kiss her, let him say he was hers entirely, won over by her own angelic voice, let him say he loved her.

His tune changed so fast when he found her catering to her patrons. At first she only flirted with them, like all the girls did. He objected to that. At first he told her, quietly but decisively, “You will not speak to that man again.” Then, when she continued to flirt, he raged at her, asking her what he had done to deserve her wretched disobedience, her disloyalty. That was when she started going further. Dinners. Parties. Dances. Long walks at parks, visits to museums. Kisses. Sometimes. Kisses in the opera house’s halls where she was sure Erik could see.

He broke things off with her by note. Back then he was a little more balanced still. He simply said he would not talk to her again unless she changed her ways. She didn’t, so he didn’t.

For a while.

She knew the accidents were him. The letters to the managers. All sorts of suspicious coincidences, the quiet yet horrific backstage hanging of Buquet…of course it was him. But she ignored it. After all, he ended things with her. She had no way to stop the things he did, nor did she have any responsibility for him. So maybe she cursed and screamed a bit louder than the others—she wanted Erik to know her anger, fear her—but nothing else. And the curses and screams did nothing.

She never received another letter from him until he began patronizing Christine Daae. Then they came again. Telling her to quit the stage, or at least accept parts that didn’t suit her. Telling her her time was up.

She ignored those too, and she ignored, as much as she could, Christine Daae. Christine who walked around skittish, who spoke in quiet tones about how she had orders, how she spoke to an angel. Maybe Erik had grown more frightening, even to his chosen ingénue. Or maybe Christine was simply weak. Carlotta thought she ought to simply break things off with him—after all, Carlotta had done it. Yet for the longest time she didn’t, and the opera house swung in the balance.

It all came to a close in a spectacular manner. A kidnapping from onstage. Carlotta’s best friend nearly killed, put on a sickbed. A nobleman found dead in the sewers. Carlotta drank her tea and wondered what would happen next.

What happened was Erik showing up in her dressing room.

“She is gone,” he said. The first words he’d spoken to her in a decade were about Christine.

“Did you expect her to stay?” Carlotta asked. She put a hand in her drawer. There was a knife hidden there. She wouldn’t take it out unless she needed it.

Erik let out a breath like a sob. “I was deceived in her. I let myself go mad.”

“As you always do.”

He took a breath in again, stilled. His eyes glittered behind the mask. “Now she is gone, I know. I realized. There is only one prima donna. I do not love Christine, I never loved Christine.” He held out a hand. “Darling, I was only ever trying to replace you. My only prima donna. My queen. How could I have been so foolish?”

“Foolish enough to think Miss Daae could be me,” Carlotta muttered. “Yes, that’s quite a feat.”

He drew closer. “You will forgive me, Carlotta. You must forgive me. I have forgiven you. Please. Let us be together again. I am ready to make amends.”

He put his hands on her cheeks. Always so ready to touch her, as if it was his right. Carlotta sighed. She kissed him gently, calmly. Then she leaned away.

“I have always hated you. That is nothing to do with Miss Daae. It is your own actions.” She turned back to her mirror and put her hand back on the knife. Erik could be easily incited. “I have no interest in renewing our relationship. I would like you to leave.”

“You kissed me,” Erik said. “I know you want me…please…”

“Thought I’d see what the flavor of wretchedness was,” Carlotta said. She had expected it to be bittersweet; instead it was sour. “I would like you to leave, please. I have nothing more to say to you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt of Erik/Carlotta, a kiss out of spite.


End file.
